George
by tinytim12
Summary: George Ushiromiya, head of the Ushiromiya family, goes to the aquarium with his servant Shannon.


Kizano had never had time for normal society. Society had, like everything else, established and clear cut rules. Kizano hated rules. He supposed it was part of his potentially foolish adolescent angst, and he accepted that, but he was always a man who got what he wanted. So here he was, hanigng out near the back of the aquarium with several of his delinquent buddies, wasting time as usual, smoking the day away.

Ordinary people were streaming in and out of the aquarium, and the looks they shot Kizano and his group before they disappeared into the building sent a tingle of guilty pleasure up his spine. Delinquent and dropout he might be, but above everything else he was to be respected. A force to be feared. He remembered the times, in painfully ordinary middle school, picked on and bullied. He had followed the rules and got discarded like a chew toy for his trouble. But here he was now. Smoking the day away without a care in the world.

One of his buddies said something, and they both laughed. Kizano inhaled deeply, enjoying the smoke crumbling his lungs into ash inside him, and threw his head back. to laugh with them. The aquarium hid them from the sun, casting them in a dark shadow, and all of them were happy. For them, life would go on forever. And forever. Smoking the day away.

One of his buddies suddenly whistled. Kizano put down his cigarette to see what was the matter, and saw a couple leaving the aquarium, their figures illuminated beautifully in the sunlight. A pretty young girl with brown hair, walking serenely across the road. Holding her hand, a gentlemen in round, geometrically circular glasses on his soft face, pressing his body against hers to escort her home.

Kizano's buddy whistled again. This time, both of them heard. They turned to see the group of gangsters lounging in the dark.

'Yo,' the buddy said, a lopsided grin on his face. 'Nice ass, lady.'

'I'd do you any day,' another one laughed raucously.

The girl looked puzzled. 'I'm sorry?'

'Let's go, Sayo,' her man touched her on the shoulder, smiling, and they began to walk away.

'Boy, you look like a piss-faced pussy!'

The two stopped again. The man turned his affable eyes towards them. 'I'm sorry, what seems to be the problem?'

The buddies hissed. 'Oh, Lover boy's got a problem, eeeehhhh? Why don't you just - '

Kizano stepped forward. 'Guys. Relax.'

They looked at him stupidly. 'Uh?'

Kizano bowed his head, sighing. He hated moments like this. When he finally composed himself, his brought his face up and tried to assemble his features to that of a socially acceptable gentleman.

'Hey, sorry, man,' he said. 'My friends can be such dic - I mean, not very nice people, some of the times. No problems, okay? We okay?'

The man said nothing, studying them with his frames.

'We're okay,' the girl said. Kizano looked at her in surprise, fully noticing her for the first time. her hair wasn't just brown - it was pure hazel, the color of a tree in a grassy brook. Her eyes had the same breezy effect, and, when she smiled, the sense of serenity tripled tenscore. Kizano quickly looked away, feeling something rise to his face. It wasn't like him to fawn over girls like this. But - somehow, beyond all logic - this girl was different. Her eyes were, above all else, pure. Nothing had tarnished them. They were hazel and pure.

'S-so,' he said, looking at her boyfriend. 'Your girl says it's okay. So are we okay?'

The man nodded, and extended his hand, his eyes sparkling behind his thick glasses. 'We're okay,' he said. 'Thanks for the help.'

'You're welcome, sir.'

'Let's go, Sayo.'

Kizano watched them go, feeling something warm flutter against his heart. This was all too much for him. As soon as the couple had left, his buddies were all over him.

'What the fuck was that, Kiz?'

'We could have thrashed that pussy like he was fuck!'

Kizano held up a hand. 'Look. I've gone over this before, guys. We stay in the shadows, we smoke, and that's it. The others can do what they like, and we don't stop them. Got it, this time?'

They glared at him. They didn't have the courage to attack him, not yet - but the possibility had been eating away at their hearts over the days. Kizano could see the rage in their eyes.

'Scram!' he barked at them. 'Get the fuck out of here.'

Some of them marched off in a confused mass, but two stayed. They folded their arms and started to smoke. Kizano remained silent. He picked up the burnt cigarette he had discarded earlier, turning it around in his hands.

He didn't know how long he sat there, just thinking. He was still bristling after his beef with his so called buddies. That was the problem with being a rebel. People were always at your back, waiting for a chance to rip you open. Maybe that was why the girl from earlier had jarred him so much. He sighed, putting his head in his hands. He wondered if he was finally growing up. Maybe he should.

He heard a footstep, and looked up. He thought it would be another one of his 'buddies' spoiling for a fight, but as his eyes adjusted he saw it was only the man with the round glasses from earlier.

'Hey,' Kizano said. 'Look, you're not mad, are you? It was just - '

The two goons cast aside their smokes and rushed towards the spectacled man. raising their teeth and exposing their fists. Before Kizano could even blink, he saw the man's leg bounce off each of them, and then they both crumpled onto the ground, unmoving.

'Wha - what the - ' Kizano started to get up, but the man laid a hand on his shoulder, the same hand which had wrapped around his girlfriend's shoulder. Somewhat mollified, Kizano sat.

'Pleased to meet you,' the man said. 'I am George Ushiromiya.'

'I'm - I'm Kizano,' Kizano found himself saying. 'Listen, I don't want any trouble - '

'I'm not looking for any.'

George chuckled, as if the very possibility was ludicrous. Kizano found himself laughing too.

'I am an Ushiromiya,' George said, touching his glasses. 'The future head of the family, if my mother has her way. So it would be quite uncouth of me to get into fights, wouldn't you say?'

'Yeah...'

'Do you know of the Ushiromiyas?'

'Well - '

'Of course you don't,' George chuckled. 'Did you see Shannon back there?'

'Who - your girl?'

'My wife.' George said.

'Oh.'

'My future wife, anyway,' George moved in closer, the shadows falling over his face. 'But, in all essence, my wife. If things go according to plan, we will be married in November.'

'That's - that's great,' Kizano was still trying to get a grip on a conversation he didn't understand.

'The Ushiromiya name is rather a troublesome one, don't you think,' George said. 'It doesn't allow you to get into fights.'

Something slammed against his hand. Kizano looked down. His palm lay on the floor like a dead fish, skewed at a horrible angle. Then he was down on the floor, a shoe pressed against his throat. Then the pain hit him. Kizano howled like an injured wolf.

'Guys - ' He saw his buddies lying where they had fallen. 'Guys - '

'A strike to the back of the spine,' George murmured above him. 'Instant paralysis. Mother didn't think I could perfect it, but - people do change, don't they?'

Kizano looked around frantically. But everyone had gone home. The aquarium had closed. The streetlamps were lighting up. The street was entirely deserted, except for the two of them. A headline flashed through his head. Gang members found dead in an alleyway. Just another case of gang violence. Nothing more to it. No one else to suspect. A clean murder. His heart choked up.

'Look,' he gibbered, trying to ignore the pain throbbing in his broken wrist. 'Look, sir, I'm sorry - we didn't mean anything - '

A snap. Kizano felt the bones in his finger move, then collapse altogether. He shrieked.

'People change,' he heard George say. The bastard didn't even seem to be looking at him. 'Or do they? Have I changed? I don't know. I don't know really.'

Another snap. This time it was his ring finger that shattered. Kizano writhed, but George's foot pinned him back to the ground. Tears came to his eyes. Through his fading vision, he thought he could see the sky. Then George's face loomed into his.

George was still smiling. His face hadn't moved a muscle throughout the entire torture.

'I think I have changed,' he said, 'I'm sorry, but Sayo will be mine. You won't come near her ever again.'

George's face withdrew. For a brief, fantastical moment, Kizano thought that he had been given a reprieve, but then George's show slammed into the tip of his spine.

The last thing he saw was his burnt out cigarette, before George stepped into it and ground it into ash.


End file.
